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BACK-TO-SCHOOL TIME GIVES PARENTS A CHOICE ON SEX ED AND CONTRACEPTION

Contact: Bill O’Reilly, 212-396-9117 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BACK-TO-SCHOOL TIME GIVES PARENTS A CHOICE ON SEX ED AND CONTRACEPTION

“New York City is Culturally and Religiously Diverse; Parents Have a

Right to Opt Out of Radical Sex Ed Programs”

New York—Aug. 28…The parents of New York City school children have a legal right at the beginning of the school year to review their students’ sex education curriculum, discuss concerns with school principals, and opt out of parts of the curriculum they find objectionable, the NYC Parents’ Choice Coalition today announced.

Parents also have the right to opt their children out of the NYC public school’s CATCH program which provides students with access to emergency contraception (also known as Plan B or the morning after pill) without parental consent. The right to remove children from these programs extends throughout the school year.

“New York City public schools teaching sex education are required to send letters home with students outlining what parents need to do to opt their children out of these programs, including the controversial emergency contraception initiative,” said NYC Parents’ Choice Coalition President Michael Benjamin. “New York City is a culturally and religiously diverse place, and we have to respect the rights of parents to decide what’s best for their children. Parents should not feel pressured to prescribe to radical new sex ed and contraception programs, and neither should their kids.”

Schools will be sending home letters with students containing information about opting out of both the CATCH and sex education programs. Parents who don’t receive letters may visit NYCParentsChoice.org.

The NYC Parents’ Choice Coalition noted that eighty-four percent (84%) of teens are opposed to sex at their age and nearly seven out of 10 oppose sex while in high school, according to the 2010 report released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

According to a poll sponsored by the Chiaroscuro Foundation in 2012, the majority of New York City residents ages 18-53 oppose Plan B distribution in schools and strongly supporting proven abstinence education. The NYC public school sex education and CATCH (Plan B distribution without parental consent) programs focus largely on methods of contraception and “safe sex” over abstinence.

NYC Parents’ Choice Coalition has made it easy for parents to exercise their parental rights in education by providing access to the Department of Education’s opt out form for CATCH and Bloomberg’s mandatory sex education, as well as more information on sex education programs and news related to sex education in NYC public schools.

”The single most important factor in the success of any form of sex education is parental involvement,” said Greg Pfundstein, president of the Chiaroscuro Foundation. “Parents, please talk to your kids and take an active role in what goes on in school.”

The Chiaroscuro Foundation is a member of the NYC Parents’ Choice Coalition, which opposes the CATCH program and advocates for optional, evidenced-based abstinence education in NYC schools.

The entire poll on the CATCH program released by the Chiaroscuro Foundation, which includes the crosstabs for the sample of 600 and the crosstabs for the oversampled under 55 demographic which had a representative sample of 400 may be viewed at http://www.nycparentschoice.org/nyc-catch-poll.

Check Out Our Poll on Attitudes toward NYC CATCH

Schools participating in the CATCH program

Press Release: NYC CATCH Program Poll

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Majority of NYC parents oppose CATCH; are open to proven abstinence education

New York-- Fifty-three percent of New Yorkers think that Department of Education should not be dispensing Plan B to high school students. A poll commissioned by the Chiaroscuro Foundation and conducted by Smith Johnson Research surveyed 600 New Yorkers on the New York City Department of Education’s controversial CATCH program, and on their opinions of abstinence education. Complete poll results are available at nycparentschoice.org.

“As usual, the Bloomberg administration and the Department of Education think they know better than NYC parents,” said Greg Pfundstein, Executive Director of the Chiaroscuro Foundation, “The DOE should end the CATCH program, which is supported by less than a third of New Yorkers surveyed in its current form. Of course, our expectations for a sensible policy change from DOE are low.”

The Chiaroscuro Foundation released the entire poll including the crosstabs for the sample of 600 and the crosstabs for the oversampled under 55 demographic which had a representative sample of 400. “There should be no question about the soundness of the methodology,” said Pfundstein.

“Not surprisingly, African American and Hispanic parents carry strong opposition to the CATCH program,” said Michael Benjamin, former NY Assemblyman and Executive Director of the Parents’ Choice Coalition.

54% of Hispanic respondents believe the DOE should not be distributing Plan B to high school students, and only 27% support the current opt out system.

African-American opposition to CATCH is also high: 59% oppose distributing Plan B to teenagers. Only 15% of African American respondents support the current opt out system.

Additionally, support for comprehensive Abstinence Education is high, especially among African Americans and Hispanics.

Nearly 77% of Hispanic respondents would support abstinence education that teaches the facts about contraception while promoting delaying sex as the best choice for teenagers.

Additionally, over 80% of Hispanic respondents would be supportive of an abstinence education program that taught healthy relationship skills.

Nearly 83% of African American respondents would support abstinence education that teaches healthy relationship skills.

And close to 73% of African American respondents would support abstinence education that teaches the facts about contraception while promoting delaying sex as the best choice for teenagers.

Among all parents, more than 75% of respondents would support abstinence education that teaches healthy relationship skills. Close to 71% of respondents would support abstinence education that teaches the facts about contraception while promoting delaying sex as the best choice for teenagers.

“This kind of social experiment has no place in the education of our children,” said State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. “NYC parents agree that the DOE is out of bounds on this issue.” Noting that the poll found only 32% of New Yorkers who rated the performance of New York City public schools in academics excellent or good, Diaz said, “The schools should be focused on providing a quality education to our children, not on passing out pills.”

The Chiaroscuro Foundation is a member of the NYC Parents’ Choice Coalition, which opposes the CATCH program and advocates for optional abstinence education in NYC schools.

The questions on abstinence education were taken from a national survey conducted by the National Abstinence Education Foundation, the results of which can be found at http://whattheytoldus.org/. The results of the NYC survey are comparable to the national results.

Open Letter to Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Walcott

Dear Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Walcott,

As parents, we wish to express our strong opposition to the Connecting Adolescents To Comprehensive Health (CATCH) pilot program. In fact, we would like it to be known that 55.8% of parents with children under the age of 18 oppose the CATCH program, according to a recent poll commissioned by the Chiaroscuro Foundation and conducted by Smith Johnson Research.

While we agree with the goal of reducing unwanted pregnancies, we object to the deceptive means employed by the Department of Education to disengage parents from important, potentially life-altering health care decisions involving their minor children. According to the same poll, only 30% of parents think the city’s current “opt-out” procedure is appropriate.

Furthermore, no one questions the idea that giving teens access to Plan B will work to decrease teenage pregnancies. But we should question it, because there is no evidence that it will, and in fact there is some evidence that the increased access will change teen behavior in a way that will result in an increase in sexually transmitted diseases. Several studies over the years have concluded that access to abortion and contraceptives alter sexual behavior in ways that lead to more unplanned pregnancies and STI’s.

In reality, CATCH should be replaced with proven risk avoidance programs that will encourage adolescents to wait at least until they are adults before becoming sexually active. Fully 76% of parents would support abstinence education if it taught the facts about contraception but promoted delaying sex as the best choice for teens. Additionally, 81% of parents would support abstinence education if it taught healthy relationship skills to teens.

New York parents have strong opinions about their children’s sex education. Parents, not the school system, should decide the health care options for their children. We strongly urge that you suspend the CATCH pilot program, respect the rights of parents to make affirmative health care decisions involving their children, and create a permanent parents advisory council to advise city agencies on how best to engage parents.